The traditional and well-known arms of Ireland are Azure a harp or.
They have been used by English monarchs to represent their claim to the
island since the time of Henry VIII, who first used a harp on his Irish
coinage. When the office of Ulster was created in 1552, his badge
was the harp. Elizabeth I used a crowned harp as badge for Ireland
in her second Great Seal of 1586, although her Irish coinage showed three
harps. Finally, when, in 1603, a new achievement was designed on
the occasion of the personal union of England and Scotland under James
I, a quarter representing Ireland was added (Woodward, A
Treatise on Heraldry, p. 383-4). The quarter is still in the
arms of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, representing
dominion over Ulster, or Northern Ireland (the "six counties").

The same arms are attributed to the King of Ireland ("le Roi d'Irlande")
in one of the oldest medieval rools of arms, the Wijnbergen Roll (a French
roll of arms dating from c. 1280). The harp, traditionally associated
with king David, was a rare charge in early medieval rolls. Léon
Jéquier's ordinary of 19 early rolls (in Cahiers d'Héraldique
I) has only two arms with a harp, the Ireland coat in the Wihjnbergen roll,
and the Steinach family in the Zurich
roll of c. 1340. Du Cange (Historia Byzantina, 1680; p. 362)
cites a "Peiresc manuscript" which attributes de gueules à une herpe
d'or, encordée de mesme.

Have there been other arms associated with Ireland as a whole in the
Middle Ages? There are three potential sources of information: Irish,
English, and Continental documents.

Among English documents, one can cite the quarter of augmentation granted
to Robert De Vere when he was made duke of Ireland in 1386: "Azure three
crowns or (within a bordure argent)" (Fox-Davies, Complete Guide to
Heraldry, p. 596; Oxford Guide to Heraldry, p. 69). Three
crowns, but in pale, were used on Henry V's Irish coinage. Note that
Azure three crowns or are the arms traditionally associated with
the Irish province or kingdom of Munster. The Irish coinage of John and
his successors Henry III and Edward I feature a triangle on the reverse,
which some have taken to be a crude harp (see Ruding, Annals of Coinage,
vol. 1, p. 178, note 3).

Foreign rolls are an unreliable source: the more distant the country,
the more fanciful the arms usually are. But they may present useful
clues nonetheless.

The Uffenbach roll, a German roll currently dated to c. 1440, attributes
'Argent three lions passant guardant gules" to Ireland, but follows with
the arms of four "Grafs" (counts):

von Lagonie: Argent a hand gules

von Conaxien: Gules three fishes argent

von Ultonigen: Or a cross gules

von Ultonigen (bis): Argent a stag or [sic].

These are identifiable as Leinster, Connaught, Ulster and (presumably,
although the roll mistakenly repeats the name "Ultonigen") Munster.
The "red hand of Ulster" is attributed to Leinster, instead of the currently
accepted "Vert a harp or".
Connaught's present arms (half an eagle
and an arm with a sword) do not appear here, but they do appear in a later
German roll, the Grunenberg roll of 1483, attributed to "Enbernia".
Finally, the arms attributed here to Munster recall the arms of the MacCarthy
(Argent a stag trippant gules).

English and British kings used the following as crest for Ireland: "On
a wreath or and azure, a tower triple-towered of the first, from the portal
a hart springing argent, attired and hoofed gold" (see, e.g., Boutell's
Heraldry, 1950 ed., p. 217).

Curiously, the same arms appear in a fictional work of c. 1180, le
Chevalier de la Charrete by Chrétien de Troyes, at verses 5799-5802,
as knights arriving for a tournament are being observed:
"Et veez vos celui qui porte
An son escu pointe une porte?
Si sanble qu'il s'an isse uns cers.
Par foi, ce est li rois Yders."
(and do you see him who bears on his shield a door? It seems that a stag
comes
forth out of it. My faith, this is king Yder.)

Gerald Brault (Early Blazon, p. 28) has a long discussion of these arms:
"If this person [king Yder] is identical with the knight Yder, son
of Nut, mentioned in Chrétien's earlier romance Erec et Enide,
the arms in question doubtless allude to the famous White Stag episode
in that romance. [footnote: On this episode, see R. Harris, 'The
White Stag in Chrétien's Erec et Enide,' French Studies
x (1956), 55-61.] According to a time-honoured custom, the
knight who succeeded in slaying a white stag was obliged to kiss the fairest
maiden at court, come what may. During the hunt organized by King
Arthur for that purpose, Erec encounters Yder who allows a dwarf to affront
Queen Guenevere. Erec subsequently avenges this insult and wins the
hand of Enide who, brought back to Arthur's court, is declared the fairest
damsel of all. Versions of the White Stag episode appear in the Second
Continuation, the Didot Perceval, and Durmart le Galois,
but it is a striking parallel in the Perlesvaus which lends support
to our
hypothesis. In the latter romance, the hero is recognized by
a white stag painted on his shield, plainly an allusion to the episode
as told in the Second Continuation. While Ider's shield in
Chrétien's Charrete would appear to be a reference, then,
to the White Stag episode in the same author's Erec, the peculiar attitude
of the stag issuing from a gate is strangely identical with
the arms associated with Ireland since the end of the thirteenth century.
[footnote: the Collins article. Add Paris, Bibliotheque nationale, f. fr.
18651, fol. 103 recto, and Paris, bibliotheque de l'Arsenal, MS 5027, fol.
190 recto: 'Roys Belsors d'Irlande', azure, a stag gules issuing from a
gate argent.] A ray of light suggesting the possible reason why the
stag is depicted as issuing from a gate in the latter tradition is shed
by this allusion in Chrétien, but the evidence is, of course, more
tantalizing than conclusive."

It may be that the MacCarthy stag was somehow mixed up by some
herald with king Yder's fictional arms (Chretien's romances were
extremely popular at the time), and the error was then repeated for several
centuries and preserved in an English crest. One could well imagine
a herald thinking that Ireland is "Yder's land"; so, when coming across
a MacCarthy stag, he would have added the door.

Fox-Davies (Complete Guide to Heraldry, p. 33) cites a Ireland
King of Arms mentioned by Froissart in 1382, and states that "a regular
succession of officers" continued until the death of Edward IV. What
happened after is unclear.

The office of Ulster Herald was created by Edward VI, in 1552. This herald
was independent of the English COllege of Arms in London. As shown in
this grant of
arms to Belfast in 1890, he was appointed under the Great Seal of Ireland
(even after the union of 1801) and made grants of arms by his own authority,
contrary to the English kings of arms who need a warrant of the Earl Marshal
of England.

What
happened to that office when Ireland became the Irish Free State is a bit
of a mystery. It is often stated in reference books that a clause in the
Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921 allowed the incumbent Ulster Herald, Neville
Wilkinson, to retain his position until his death, or that the office of
Ulster Herald was reserved as Crown office (Brooke-Little in his annotations
to Fox-Davies' Complete Guide to Heraldry). However, no such clause
can be found in the treaty.

On the British side, the office of Ulster was joined with that of Norroy
to become Norroy & Ulster.

On the Irish side,
the Executive Powers Act of 1937 stated that "Every power, function,
duty, and jurisdiction which, immediately before the passing of The Principal
Act, was, by any means whatsoever, capable of being exercised or required
to be performed by the King or by the Representative of the Crown (whether
on advice, nomination, appeal, or other communication or without any such
communication) shall be and be deemed to have been, as from the passing
of The Principal Act, transferred to and (as the case may be) capable of
being exercised by or required to be performed by the Executive Council,
save where and in so far as the exercise or performance of such power,
function, duty, or jurisdiction is, by virtue of an amendment of the Constitution
effected by The Principal Act or by virtue of the Executive Authority (External
Relations) Act, 1936 (No. 58 of 1936), conferred or imposed on some other
person." Thus the royal prerogative in heraldic matters would seem to have
passed to the Executive Council of Ireland.

On April 1, 1943 the collections and materials of the Ulster Office-of-Arms
were turned over to the Genealogical Office of the National Library of
Ireland, at which time was appointed a Chief Herald of Ireland. Meanwhile,
England continues to appoint an Ulster King of Arms (the office is jointly
held with that of Norroy).

The National Cultural Institutions Act of 1997 (section 12) provides
that the Board of the National Library of Ireland "shall have all such
powers as it considers necessary or expedient for the performance of its
functions under this Act including, but without prejudice to the generality
of the foregoing, the following powers: [...] ( b )to facilitate, encourage,
assist and promote the carrying out of genealogical research, ( c ) to
facilitate, encourage, assist and promote the granting and confirming of
coats of arms [...] ( q )to acquire and make use of copyright, patents,
licences, privileges and concessions as may be appropriate in relation
to any matter connected with the functions or activities of the Board [...]".
It also states (section 13):

(1) For the avoidance of doubt, it is hereby declared that the
Genealogical Office is a branch of the Library.
(2) The Board shall, from time to time as occasion requires, designate
a member of its staff to perform the duty of researching, granting and
confirming coats of arms and such member shall use the appellation Chief
Herald of Ireland or, in the Irish language, PríorahAralt na hÉireann
while performing such duties.
(3) The Board shall be entitled to any copyright subsisting in coats of
arms granted or confirmed under this section.
(4)(a)The Board of the Library shall as soon as may be after the Library
establishment day appoint a committee to be known as the Committee on
Genealogy and Healdry (referred to subsequently in this subsection as
"the Committee") to perform such of the functions of the Board, as in
the opinion of the Board, may be better or more conveniently performed
by it and are assigned to it by the Board.
(b)There may be included in the membership of the Committee such number
(not being more than half of the membership of the Committee who are
entitled to vote) of persons who are not members of the Board.
(c) The appointment of a person to act as a member of the Committee shall
be subject to such conditions as the Board may think fit to impose when
making the appointment.
(d) A member of the Committee may be removed from office at any time by
the Board.
(e) The acts of the Committee shall be subject to the approval of the
Board.
(f) The Director of the National Library and the Chief Herald of Ireland
shall be included in the membership of the Committee but shall not be
entitled to vote.
(g) The Board may regulate the procedures of the Committee but, subject
to any such regulation, the Committee may regulate its own procedure.

It is common for the President of Ireland to receive arms toward the
end of his or her term. The coat-of arms is then displayed on a shield
hung on the grand staircase of Dublin Castle leading to St. Patrick's Hall,
scene of Presidential inaugurations. The Chief Herald has also granted
arms to foreign personalities of Irish descent, such as John Kennedy and Bill
Clinton (see
the armory of famous Americans).

The arms granted to Mary Robinson on Jan. 29, 1997 are described in
an article
of the Irish Times, along with a picture which gives a vague idea of
the general design, but not much more.

Gerard Slevin, Chief Herald of Ireland from 1954 to 1981, has been
credited with the design the flag
of the European Union according to his obituary in the Irish Times
(28 March 1997), although the story seems difficult to substantiate.